


Local Haunts

by yikeslikenikes



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghost Hunters, First Meetings, Ghost Hunter Hyungwon, Ghosts, Happy Ending, Horror, It's like what you always wish would happen on those ghost shows, M/M, Possession, Pre-Relationship, Psychic Minhyuk, angst because horror, everything turns out fine though, mild side changki, spooky stuff happens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-26
Updated: 2019-11-26
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:40:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21573883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yikeslikenikes/pseuds/yikeslikenikes
Summary: "I'm Hyungwon, and this is Local Haunts."
Relationships: Chae Hyungwon/Lee Minhyuk
Comments: 16
Kudos: 94





	Local Haunts

**Author's Note:**

> I was binge watching ghost adventures as one does and wishing that just once a ghost would actually very obviously show up and mess with them, so I wrote this back in July for hw bingo, but then I thought it'd be better as a halloween fic, and then I didn't get around to posting it until now. I hope you guys enjoy!

“I'm Hyungwon, and this is Local Haunts,” Hyungwon says under his breath as he stares up the small hill at the old house in front of him. 

“You say that all the time, and you still practice it?” Changkyun asks as he walks by, arms absolutely covered in a mess of extension cords. Hyungwon pushes himself away from the side of the van and grabs the ones off his right arm, making Changkyun smile gratefully in his direction.

“I know it's dumb, but it's also the most awkward thing I say. Where do you want these?”

Changkyun opens up the back of their van and steps up into it. He sighs almost lovingly as he greets his carefully crafted control system back there, a wall full of screens that are connected to a whole system of wireless cameras inside. “Just drop them there. I didn't end up needing to use them,” Changkyun says, pointing down near his feet. 

Hyungwon does as he's told as he looks over to Kihyun who is plopped down on the floor of the van in the corner, putting new batteries in their handheld cameras. “Do you think we charged enough back ups? This house supposedly drains batteries like nothing else,” Hyungwon asks.

Kihyun glances up at him and nods. “I charged three per camera even though the batteries probably won't be drained.”

“Hey, don't say that. Remember that place in Jeju? We almost had to scrap the shoot because your fully-charged cameras kept dying,” Changkyun says. He sits down on his little backless roller-chair that Hyungwon, to this day, doesn't understand. 

“Is everything else good to go?” Hyungwon asks.

“Cameras are up and working including the few infrared ones I set up,” Changkyun says, eyes already on the screens in front of him.

“Good. And we’re still waiting on that psychic guy?”

“Yeah, but I told him to meet us at six, and it’s only 5:45,” Kihyun says.

“You know, I'm just trying to figure out why this place would be haunted. Like yeah, it's old and creepy looking, but there are literally no reports of anyone ever dying here. Not even peacefully in their sleep,” Changkyun says. Hyungwon looks back over to the house. It's not too big, and maybe could have been an idyllic little place to vacation, but it hadn’t served that purpose in years. The windows have cardboard taped over them on the inside, and the brick that made up it’s walls were faded and run over with vines. They were assured it was structurally sound, passing inspection every year, but Hyungwon still worried about the roof caving in over his and Kihyun’s heads. 

It shouldn’t be creaking and groaning all night, and Hyungwon was already looking forward to it. He much preferred his ghost hunting in quieter places where strange noises couldn't all just be waved off as the house settling. 

“Really? Nothing?” Kihyun asks.

“Nope. I checked all the records online and at the local library and nothing. No one stayed in the house for very long, but no one died. I have a feeling that it's going to be a long boring night where we find out that old houses just make people feel weird for no reason,” Changkyun says.

“Other than the battery draining thing. We don't have an explanation for that,” Hyungwon says.

Kihyun rolls his eyes before hopping out of the van, his favorite camera already strapped to his hand. “It could just be people using their shit more because they feel weird, and then, lo and behold, battery dies.”

“Don't be so close-minded. You act like you don't believe in ghosts,” Hyungwon says, pushing lightly as Kihyun’s shoulder. 

“I do believe in ghosts, I just don't believe in every ghost,” Kihyun explains. 

“We should put that on a t-shirt and sell it as merch,” Changkyun pipes up.

Kihyun laughs a bit as he looks up at Changkyun. “Do I really say it that often?”

“At least once every episode,” Changkyun replies. “I would know. I edit them.”

“We know you edit them,” Hyungwon sighs out. He keeps glancing over at the house, feeling like someone is watching them even though all the windows are covered. 

“Hey, is that our guy?” Changkyun asks. Hyungwon turns around to see someone biking down the street, coasting until they stop a few feet away from the van. The man puts the kickstand down, and gets off the bike, pulling his helmet off and immediately fluffing up his brown hair. 

“Yep, that's him,” Kihyun says. 

Hyungwon regrets letting Kihyun be in charge of finding their local talent. He especially regrets trusting him so much he didn't even look at a picture of the guy. 

“Minhyuk?” Kihyun says as he walks toward him, switching his camera to his left hand to shake the psychic’s hand and bow a bit.

“Yep! Nice to meet you in person, Kihyun,” he replies, taking Kihyun’s hand carefully in both of his hands as he bows back before turning his attention to the van.

“This is Hyungwon, and that’s Changkyun. And we’re Local Haunts,” Kihyun says.

Minhyuk smiles as he reaches his hand out toward Hyungwon, and Hyungwon puffs out a breath before he takes it, bowing. 

Minhyuk looks nothing like the many psychics they've had on the show before. He just looks like a normal guy except for the fact that he's stunning. He's wearing jeans and a plain black T-shirt that he has carefully french-tucked into his pants like he just decided Queer Eye is his new religion. He looks bright and happy where the other psychics carried around an air of mystery in their traditional clothing. Even in a black shirt, Minhyuk didn't even look nearly as foreboding. He even has a backpack slung over his shoulders like a college student. The only thing he has in common with any of those psychics they had worked with in the past were the prayer beads sitting on his wrist. 

“Nice to meet you,” he says, big adorable smile still on his face.

Hyungwon bows his head again. “Nice to meet you, too.”

When Minhyuk turns to greet Changkyun, Hyungwon can see Kihyun smirking at him like this was his plan all along. Hyungwon frowns deeply at him before clearing his throat.

“So Minhyuk, just as an overview of what's going to happen, first we’ll do an interview with you. Just basic information, your feelings on the house, local feelings on the house, why you're with us today, stuff like that,” Hyungwon says.

Minhyuk nods along. “Okay, cool.”

“And then we’ll be going inside the house. We spend the night, but you are under no obligation to do that. You can leave whenever you want, you can ask us to stop filming, tell us to cut your parts out, whatever. It's all up to you, so don't feel pressured to do anything.”

Minhyuk glances behind Hyungwon at the house before looking back at him and putting a smile on his face. “Yeah.”

“And if there’s nothing, please don't act like there’s something. That's happened before, and it's honestly just a waste of time.”

“I picked him because he doesn't do that, actually,” Kihyun says.

“Yep. It's like an orgasm. If it doesn't happen, you shouldn't fake it,” Minhyuk says with a shrug. 

Hyungwon laughs. God, he wants to strangle Kihyun where he stands for finding the hottest psychic in the country just to torture him with. “Funny. The viewers will love you,” Hyungwon says.

“The  _ viewers _ sure will,” Kihyun says, smirk still painted onto his face. Hyungwon closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. He reminds himself that he definitely cannot murder his best friend, and then opens his eyes again.

“Okay, let’s get this started--”

“Answer that first,” Minhyuk says, looking over at Changkyun.

“What?” Changkyun asks, and then his phone rings. They all look at Minhyuk who just shyly looks down, kicks at the ground with his sneakers. 

Hyungwon instantly feels his excitement kick up, eyes widening as he looks back over at Kihyun. Kihyun is still looking at the back of Minhyuk’s head with a slight sense of awe on his features. 

“Real deal,” Kihyun mouths at Hyungwon.

“Um. Let's get in front of the house for the shot,” Hyungwon says, stumbling back a bit before he steps onto the sidewalk. Minhyuk follows after him, though he hesitates before stepping onto the curb. 

“You alright?” Kihyun asks, already starting to open up his camera.

“Yeah. It's just. I don't know,” Minhyuk says as he looks up at the house. He pulls his backpack further up on his shoulders before finally stepping up next to Hyungwon.

“You sure you don't want to put the bag down?” Kihyun asks as he walks over to the tripod he had set up earlier to get establishing shots of the house. He puts the camera on it and readjusts it, so it's pointing at both of them.

Minhyuk bites his lip before he pulls his bag off and puts it down between his feet. “Sorry.”

“Don't worry about it,” Hyungwon says. He taps his chest to check his mic before he groans. “Changkyun! We forgot to give Minhyuk a mic!”

“Oh, shit,” they hear from the van. There's a small scramble before Changkyun comes out, phone between his ear and his shoulder as he holds the mic to Hyungwon. 

Hyungwon sighs as he takes it. “You can't get off the phone? We’re about to start filming.”

“It's Jooheon with our check-in,” Changkyun says before sticking his tongue out at Hyungwon. Minhyuk snorts a bit.

“Your check-in?” he asks.

“He’s our friend. He calls to make sure we're alive before we start even though I don't think we've ever been in actual danger,” Hyungwon explains.

Minhyuk nods as he takes the microphone from Hyungwon and clips it to his shirt. He shoves the thick receiver into his back pocket and taps at the microphone like Hyungwon had earlier.

“Are we good now?” Minhyuk asks.

“Changkyun?” Hyungwon calls.

“You're both good to go,” he calls back from the van.

Hyungwon clears his throat and pulls on his tan jacket to straighten it out before looking at the camera. He nods at Kihyun to signal that he’s ready to go.

Kihyun nods back. “Okay, ready? And action,” he says.

“I'm Hyungwon, and this is Local Haunts. Today, we’re in Nam-gu investigating a place known as the Eondeok Guesthouse, although it never really successfully worked as a guesthouse. We’re here with local psychic and medium Minhyuk to help us in our investigation.”

Minhyuk, already a natural, smiles easily when Hyungwon turns his attention to him. “Thanks for inviting me,” he says.

“Thank you for coming. Tell me, how much do you know about this house?” Hyungwon asks, gesturing small behind them. 

Minhyuk tilts his head a bit. “Quite a bit, actually. I've actually done a lot of research on it.”

Hyungwon tries not to glance at Kihyun’s proud smile. “And why is that?”

“Well, ever since I was a kid, I felt like something was...off about the house. This is actually the first time I've stood on this side of the street,” Minhyuk says, rocking a bit on the balls of his feet. 

Hyungwon’s eyes widen. “Really? The energy is that strong?”

Minhyuk shakes his head. “Not strong. Bad. Just. Bad.” Hyungwon can see the way he rolls his shoulders back to shrug off a chill, and it makes Hyungwon more excited. 

“So you did research to find a reason why?”

“Exactly.”

“That's interesting. We did our own research, and we couldn't find anything outstanding in its history.”

“That's the thing, isn't it? No murders. No deaths. Nothing except a string of people buying it, moving in, and moving back out within a year’s time.”

“So there really shouldn't be anything at all to find here,” Hyungwon says.

Minhyuk shrugs, glancing back at the house. “You would think. But there is one tragic story in the background of the house. A supposed kidnapping about 50 years back. The kid was never found.”

“We didn't find that in our research,” Kihyun says from behind the camera.

Minhyuk nods. “It's easy to miss if you're focused in on just deaths.”

“But otherwise, no tragedies?” Hyungwon asks.

Minhyuk smiles again and shakes his head a bit. “Not as far as I'm aware.”

“But you still get a weird feeling from the house?”

“I've been to a lot of creepy looking houses that were just old and dilapidated, but nothing was there. It was sterile. This isn't sterile. But I've never come to investigate it myself before.”

“Why not?” Kihyun asks, and with the way Minhyuk squints his eyes at him, Hyungwon knows that Kihyun has already asked him that before.

“Well, I don't go to potentially haunted houses by myself, but any of the locals that have asked me to come were planning on doing things I don't agree with. I’ve watched your show, and you guys are really respectful. You don't try to make things angry. You don't beg ghosts to possess you.”

Hyungwon smiles, proud of gaining his respect just for not being idiots. “We appreciate that.”

“Besides, it was probably time I faced this fear of mine,” Minhyuk says, looking back at the house again. He’s nervous. Hyungwon can see it in the way his smile falls a bit, and his shoulders hitch up just a bit whenever he turns to look. He hasn’t worked with a psychic that seemed this emotionally invested in the house before. He latches on.

“You say it's a fear. Do you have any personal connection to the Guesthouse?” Hyungwon asks.

Minhyuk turns back to him and shakes his head. “Not really. I grew up in an apartment a few streets over, so I guess that is a connection, but I never knew anyone that lived here back when people still tried to live here. Like I said, I've never even stepped on this sidewalk before.”

“Just grew up scared?” Kihyun asks.

Minhyuk laughs a little. “You could say that. I didn't have the type of friends that would sneak into there to get drunk or anything in high school.”

“So high schoolers come here?” Hyungwon asks.

“Sometimes, although that's died down in recent years after a kid stepped on a huge nail. More afraid of getting tetanus than potential hauntings, you know?” Minhyuk says with a shrug.

“Good to know. Thank you so much for sharing this information with us. I'm excited to see where the night leads us.” As soon as the words leave Hyungwon's mouth, he wishes he could eat them right back up. He can practically feel the laugh that Kihyun is trying to keep inside of him. But Minhyuk’s eyes just graze his body quickly before he smiles again.

“I'm excited to see where this goes, too,” he says. 

“And cut!” Kihyun says, clicking the camera off. Minhyuk turns to ask him if he did okay, and Hyungwon's brain is still processing. Did Minhyuk just flirt with him? On camera? Potentially in front of thousands of viewers?

Definitely maybe.

“I think that's the best intro we've had in a while, honestly,” Kihyun says.

“Really? You're not just flattering me?” Minhyuk asks.

“Trust me, some of the people we interview are dull as mud and the others are too weird and ramble on forever,” Kihyun says. He looks up at the darkening sky and zips up his jacket. “It's getting dark, wanna start heading in?” he asks.

“Yeah, I'm ready,” Hyungwon answers.

He goes to the back of the van and grabs his bag full of flashlights and recording devices and batteries. Changkyun tosses him his walkie talkie and gives him a thumbs up before Kihyun grabs the rest of his stuff. Hyungwon walks back over to Minhyuk who has grabbed his backpack again. 

“What’s in the bag?” Hyungwon asks. 

“Oh, I always take things with me. Candles, matches, paper, ink.”

“Just in case?”

Minhyuk sighs. “Just in case.”

“Have you...I don’t know. Met a lot of ghosts?” Hyungwon asks. 

Minhyuk laughs. “Interesting way to put it.”

Hyungwon smiles. Minhyuk’s laugh is not cute at all, and that makes it a thousand times more endearing. “Well, how would you put it then?”

“I mean. I hear things. Feel things. I thought I was psychotic except none of the medication made it stop,” Minhyuk explains easily, as if he didn’t divulge something very deep and personal. Hyungwon feels his smile slip off his face. 

“Oh. I’m sorry, I didn’t--”

“You’re fine. I know you weren’t making fun of me,” Minhyuk says. He turns around and looks at the house, hugging his arms around his chest. “You’re really spending the whole night in there?”

“Yep. Me and Kihyun. Changkyun will spend the night in the van. And you, if you decide to stay.”

Minhyuk sucks in a breath. “I’ll try. I might end up in the van, but I’ll try.”

“Good. I think it’ll be fun with you,” Hyungwon says. Minhyuk turns to look at him again, and the grin on his face almost makes Hyungwon’s knees go weak.

“Okay, we ready?” Kihyun asks as he walks up, heavy backpack on, camera strapped back onto his hand. Hyungwon looks to Minhyuk. Minhyuk nods a little, and then they walk up the small hill, up to the porch, and open the door. 

Kihyun closes the door behind them and opens up the little handheld camera again. “Well, we’re officially in the Guesthouse. There’re a lot more rooms in here than we expected, but the front room is the biggest, so maybe we should head there?”

Hyungwon made his way over, looking around at the layer of dust on the walls of the empty house. “Dusty.”

“Aren’t they always?” Kihyun asks. Hyungwon turns around to see Minhyuk standing with his arms crossed as his eyes move over the room slowly, a frown on his face. 

“You okay?” Hyungwon asks. 

Minhyuk swallows and nods. “Yeah. I’m fine. Just feels weird being in here.”

“If you want to leave at any time,” Kihyun reminds him. Minhyuk nods but just walks further into the room. He shivers as he walks up next to Hyungwon, eyes still scanning. 

“So, we really only have vague stories to go off of. Just noises and doors opening and closing. The battery drainage of city inspectors and the like. I have to ask, why not just demolish the house, right?” Hyungwon asks. 

Minhyuk clears his throat. “I’m sure it’ll get demolished once it falls out of code, but legally it doesn’t belong to the city, and it’s up to code, so they can’t just get rid of it.”

“Right. The owners of the house don’t seem to care very much for it, though. They let us do the investigation, but they didn’t care to be involved in any way other than just giving us the keys and signing the contract,” Kihyun says. He’s sweeping the camera around the room, probably so they can extrapolate on how creepy everything looks. Cobwebs and taped up windows and empty space. There wasn’t even the common detritus of an abandoned house like left behind furniture or broken things. It was like someone had moved out, leaving the space open for a tenant that would never come. Hyungwon didn't know if that made it more or less eerie than the abandoned houses that looked like someone had left in a hurry, leaving almost everything behind.

“Weird that there’s no graffiti, right?” Kihyun says. 

“And it’s not like it’s painted over. Too much dust for that,” Hyungwon says. 

“I told you people don’t really come in here,” Minhyuk says. 

Kihyun hums in response. “Well, what a lovely town. No delinquents.”

Hyungwon snorts before he turns to Minhyuk. “If you feel anything, feel free to let us know.” Minhyuk nods, and Hyungwon notices that he's holding his prayer beads in his hand now instead of wearing them. Hyungwon looks back over to Kihyun. “Do you wanna do another sweep of the whole place with the handheld before we start?”

“Can do,” Kihyun replies. He walks back down the hall toward the back of the house. 

“Aren't you going to go with him?” Minhyuk asks.

“Changkyun has eyes on him. Right?” Hyungwon asks, eyes going up into the corners of the rooms where Changkyun had set up the cameras.

The walkie talkie in Hyungwon's pocket crackles to life. “Yep! This place has so many rooms it's kinda funky, but yeah,” Changkyun’s voice comes from the device.

Minhyuk sighs. “In the past, you've had people bless the places you were in, right?”

“You already want to cleanse the place?” Hyungwon jokes.

Minhyuk shakes his head and sits carefully on the ground, putting his bag in front of him. “Not necessarily.” He carefully takes out a bamboo mat and rolls it out before taking out a strip of yellow paper and a red calligraphy set. Hyungwon moves a bit and looks up at the cameras to make sure that they’re recording whatever Minhyuk is doing.

“Then what?” Hyungwon asks. 

Minhyuk looks up at him. “You said it yourself. There shouldn't be anything here, right?”

Hyungwon shrugs. “Sure.”

“I'm here to prove to myself that my fear is stupid. That there is nothing in this house,” Minhyuk says.

“Okay. We definitely get that,” Hyungwon says, nodding.

Minhyuk sighs and looks down at his things. “I just want to try something. If there's anything here, it'll become more visible, but it won’t be strong enough to let anything manifest. If there's nothing, then obviously nothing will happen.”

“That's fine. Although we should wait for Kihyun to get back to record it.”

“Okay. I still need to set it up.”

“Take your time.” Hyungwon walks over to the entryway of the room and calls out. “Ki! Need the camera back over here!”

“Coming!” Kihyun calls back from somewhere in the house. He reappears a few moments later. 

“See anything?” Hyungwon asks.

“Nope. Although I will say my battery is already at a very sad 64%.”

“Haha. Very funny. Just set up the camera to get Minhyuk doing his thing.”

“Making  _ bujeok  _ on the fly? That's new. Never seen that before,” Kihyun replies as he goes to sit down in front of Minhyuk, using his knee to help support his camera arm.

“Do you need us to give you space?” Hyungwon asks.

“No. Please just stay here,” Minhyuk replies quickly. He looks up at Kihyun’s camera and sighs before he closes his eyes and presses his hands together in front of his chest. He starts muttering softly, and Hyungwon bows his head a bit out of respect to his prayers. 

He doesn't listen to the words, just the steady cadence they have as Minhyuk says them. He feels like he's eavesdropping on something intimate, like he can feel Minhyuk's words caressing the shell of his ear. Like this is how he would sound whispering to a lover. Hyungwon shakes his head free of that thought, peeking back up to see Minhyuk dipping a brush into an inkwell. Minhyuk holds it with both of his hands as he brings it up in front of his chest to say a few more lines before he leans down over the paper on the bamboo mat and starts carefully writing. Hyungwon tries to only think good thoughts as he does, remembering how one of the past psychics had warned them all sternly about invading her space with negativity. 

After finishing the characters, Minhyuk walks back over to the front entrance before wetting the top of the paper a bit and sticking it onto the door. He sighs and walks back over to his bag before starting to clean up his things, muttering under his breath again. 

“Thank you for letting us film that,” Kihyun says softly. 

Minhyuk smiles up at him before putting his things away. “No problem.”

“How long does it usually take for that stuff to work?” Hyungwon asks. He clicks his flashlight on because it has gotten dark in the house with the windows covered up.

“Depends, I guess.”

Kihyun closes his handheld and stretches his arm out. It's almost peaceful how quiet it is in the house. The silence of the house settling in after Minhyuk’s little prayers have ended. 

Minhyuk flinches before he looks behind him, and then there's a creak, followed by a slam. Hyungwon feels his heart stutter in his chest.

“The door in bedroom number three just closed by itself!” Changkyun calls excitedly over the walkie talkie. 

Hyungwon looks down at Kihyun who seems to be frozen in place. “Ki?”

“Could be the wind. Or a cross-draft,” Kihyun answers instantly. 

“Minhyuk felt it before it happened, right?” Hyungwon asks.

Minhyuk looks up at him and nods once, slow and deliberate. “It might still be the--”

Minhyuk flinches again, cutting off his own words. In quick succession, they hear a series of four doors slam shut. Not all at once like a gust of wind. But one right after the other. 

“Holy shit,” Kihyun exclaims as he scrambles up to his feet. Minhyuk’s face is paler and more serious, like he might be on the verge of puking.

Hyungwon pulls the walkie talkie to his lips and presses the button. “Tell me you got that,  _ please _ tell me you got that.”

“That was the craziest footage we’ve ever gotten,” Changkyun says back.

“Let’s go look,” Kihyun says excitedly, opening up his camera again. 

“You coming with?” Hyungwon asks Minhyuk, who is still staring straight ahead in a daze.

Minhyuk nods as he stands up, gripping tight at his prayer beads. “Let’s go.”

They walk down the hall. The house is basically a “T”. A hallway down from the front door that intersects a perpendicular hallway. The rooms, since this was once supposed to be a guesthouse, shoot off that hallway. There’s another door at the end of the hall to their right that leads to the kitchen. It’s a strange house, obviously not meant to be a normal residence. All the doors that they had left open were closed now. 

“Who closed all these doors?” Kihyun asks into the empty house. Hyungwon walks down to the kitchen door and opens it before taking a look around. Nothing. He leaves the door open and heads to the next room, open and check, open and check, until all the doors are open again. 

“Well, it’s not someone pranking us,” Hyungwon says. 

“No. It isn’t,” Minhyuk says softly. 

“Do you hear anything? Feel anything?” Kihyun asks, turning the camera back onto him. 

Minhyuk swallows and looks at him. “It’s weird. It’s bad, but it feels small. Like physically small.”

“Like a kid?” Hyungwon asks. 

Minhyuk touches one of the walls and squints at a spot behind Kihyun. Kihyun whirls around just in time to catch the kitchen door move back and forth sharply. Almost slam shut, but then it doesn’t. Opens back up just as quickly before stopping short. 

Back and forth. Back and forth. 

“Are you playing with the door?” Hyungwon croaks out. He’s never seen anything like this before. There’s no way that’s just the wind. The door stops moving for a second before it slams shut, and then all the doors shut one at a time down the hall, and Hyungwon shivers like a flash of cold just ran past him. 

“No. We need to go. We need to get out,” Minhyuk says. He grabs onto Hyungwon’s sleeve and pulls on it, already turning toward the front door. 

“What? There’s no way we’re leaving. This is the most concrete thing we’ve ever caught on camera!” Kihyun says, grabbing onto Hyungwon’s other sleeve. Hyungwon frowns at Minhyuk. 

“You can go if you want, but we have to stay,” he says. 

Minhyuk groans and lets go of Hyungwon. “Fine. Then I’ll stay, too.”

“No, you don’t have to,” Kihyun pipes up.

Minhyuk looks at him like he’s ready to throw a punch, but he shakes his head. “I’m staying.”

Hyungwon opens his mouth to speak when the kitchen door squeaks open again. They all turn toward it, Hyungwon pointing his flashlight at it. 

“Guys?” The walkie-talkie calls out. Hyungwon groans as he pulls it out and hits the button. 

“Yeah?”

“The cameras are literally shaking from the force of those doors slamming. Just thought you should know.”

“Great,” Kihyun sighs out, already looking up at the corners where the cameras were set up. 

“It wants us to go to the kitchen,” Minhyuk says, staring at the kitchen door. 

“It said that?” Hyungwon asks. 

“It’s pulling there,” Minhyuk answers. 

“You guys go in front of me, so I can record,” Kihyun says. 

Hyungwon and Minhyuk look at each other for a second before they start walking down the hall, their footsteps feeling suddenly loud in the abandoned house. Hyungwon walks into the kitchen and looks around again. There’s a place for a fridge to his left, and then the stove and counter and then the sink and dishwasher on the wall next to that. The rest of the room is empty. Hyungwon walks to the middle of the room and turns around to see Minhyuk hugging himself as he looks around. Hyungwon looks down at his watch. “It’s 8, in case anyone is wondering.”

“Good to know,” Minhyuk says. 

“It’s not even creepy hours yet,” Kihyun jokes from the hallway, taking his time to keep the camera steady.

Snorting, Hyungwon looks back up at him. “I know, right? Maybe we should--”

The door slams shut right in Kihyun’s face. Hyungwon jumps back, letting out a little startled yell. Minhyuk is at his side again, clutching at his arm. 

“Shit, Ki, you okay?” Hyungwon calls.

“Yeah! Didn’t hit me or the camera,” Kihyun calls back. Hyungwon sees the doorknob jiggle a bit like Kihyun is trying to get inside. “The door’s locked?” 

Minhyuk is panting next to him, and Hyungwon turns to him. “You okay? What’s wrong?”

“Open the door for him,” Minhyuk whispers out. 

Hyungwon frowns at him before he steps toward the door and looks at the knob. The door isn’t locked. But when Hyungwon tries to turn the knob, it doesn’t budge. “Ki, wait a second, the doorknob is stuck,” Hyungwon says. 

“Okay,” Kihyun answers. Hyungwon kneels down in front of the door and keeps trying to jiggle the doorknob loose. He even locks and unlocks the door to double check. 

But the doorknob is stuck tight. Hyungwon sighs as he stands back up and starts just yanking on the door, trying to pull it open. 

“Hyungwon,” Minhyuk says softly.

“What?”

“Check on him.”

“On Kihyun? I’m sure he’s-”

“Check on him,” Minhyuk repeats.

The walkie-talkie crackles again. “Guys, the cameras in the hall just went dark.”

Minhyuk walks up to the door and yanks on the knob. “Kihyun? Kihyun, talk to us!”

Silence. Hyungwon and Minhyuk both start pulling on the knob. 

“Ki, this isn’t funny,” Hyungwon calls out. He’s trying to stay calm, but the way that Minhyuk’s whole body reads as frantic isn’t helping. “Kihyun? Say something! Stop joking around!”

“What’s--” Static overtakes whatever Changkyun is trying to say. 

Minhyuk stops pulling and turns around like he just heard something behind them. Hyungwon keeps pulling, turning just his head. “What? What is it?”

Minhyuk turns to him, and his eyes are watery. “He’s not there,” he whispers. 

Hyungwon freezes. He scoffs and pulls on the door again. “Ki, this isn’t funny!”

“He’s not there,” Minhyuk says again, this time a bit louder. 

Hyungwon ignores him and kicks the door. “Come on, Ki, you never joke around like this!”

“Give me the walkie-talkie,” Minhyuk says. 

Hyungwon sighs as he hands it over before trying to turn the knob again to no avail. He can hear Minhyuk trying to talk to Changkyun.

“Changkyun? Do you hear me?” Beep. 

“Changkyun, are you there?” Beep. 

“Changkyun, whatever you do, just stay in the van, okay?” Beep. 

“Can you not get him?” Hyungwon asks. He walks away from the door to take the walkie-talkie back from Minhyuk, checking to see if the batteries are working. 

The door creaks open again. 

“Shit!” Hyungwon yells out, his hand coming up to his chest. “Fuck, Ki, you asshole, scared the shit out of--”

“He’s not there,” Minhyuk whispers. Hyungwon shuts his eyes and shakes his head before he looks over to the hall and shines his flashlight there. 

The hall is empty, and all the doors are open. 

The walkie-talkie crackles. “Cameras came back on. Where did Ki go?”

Hyungwon’s knees wobble. He sees Minhyuk wrap his arms around his middle, and he’s just saying sorry over and over again. 

“Guys, answer me. Did Ki leave the house? I don’t see him on any of the cameras.”

“Ki, please, this isn’t funny,” Hyungwon says again, his throat starting to feel tight. 

“We need to go,” Minhyuk says, grabbing onto Hyungwon's sleeve again. 

Hyungwon shakes his head. “I’m not going anywhere without Kihyun.” He shrugs Minhyuk off and starts walking toward the kitchen door.

“Hyungwon!” Minhyuk yells. Hyungwon turns around, and Minhyuk’s eyes are wide, staring at something behind him. 

“What is it?”

“Don’t look behind you, okay? Just come back over here,” Minhyuk says, holding his hands out toward him.

Hyungwon feels like the air conditioning kicked on behind him. Like ice has manifested right against his spine. He huffs out air, and it condenses in a cloud in front of his lips. 

“W-what’s behind me?” he whispers. 

Minhyuk focuses in on his face and shakes his head. “Nothing. It’s nothing. Just come here, please.” The walkie-talkie crackles again like an aborted thought. Time feels like it’s moving so slow, and Minhyuk is still holding his hands out like it’s urgent. “Come here,” he says again.

Hyungwon has always been morbidly curious. It’s why he even does this. So he takes one step toward Minhyuk, grazes his fingertips over his palms, before looking back. In the dark hallway, he can make out shapes moving around before he turns back toward Minhyuk, fear paralyzing his lungs. Their eyes meet, and he can hear the door slam shut behind them again. 

“What the fuck, what the fuck, oh my God, what the fuck,” Hyungwon whispers out frantically. 

Minhyuk squeezes his hands before he pulls him down to sit on the ground. “I told you not to look back,” he says simply.

“Kihyun. He’s out there,” Hyungwon says frantically.

“No. He’s not. I don’t know where he is, but he is most definitely not in the hall,” Minhyuk says. He opens up his backpack, and Hyungwon grabs it, holding it shut.

“I think whatever you did was enough,” he huffs out. 

Minhyuk frowns as he pulls the bag out of Hyungwon’s grip. “I’m not trying to make it worse.”

“You already did.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Minhyuk bites back, eyes wide and angry, and Hyungwon is overwhelmed with it. He feels so frustrated, and it’s boiling up in his chest, and all he wants to do is make Minhyuk shut up. He wants to shut him up for good. 

Hyungwon catches himself and scoots away from him, his hands coming up to squeeze at his temples. “What is wrong with me?”

“Spirits feed on negative emotions. Whatever you’re thinking, it probably isn’t you,” Minhyuk says. Hyungwon looks over. Minhyuk has put the flashlight on the ground facing up to the ceiling, so the whole room is filled with light. 

“What are we going to do about Kihyun?” Hyungwon asks. 

Minhyuk sighs as he pulls out some candles and matches, the bamboo mat, the yellow paper, and the calligraphy set. “First, we’re going to protect ourselves, and then we’re going to go back out there. We’ll leave the house and go back to the van, and we’ll make a plan there.”

“What?”

“Look, Kihyun could just be out back. None of us would know.”

The door slams open again, and the entire house groans like it’s shifting on its foundations. They hear the other doors slam closed one-by-one again, and Hyungwon swallows down the instinct to run out there. 

“You know that makes no sense,” Hyungwon says. He rummages around in his own bag before pulling out another flashlight and flicking it on. He shines the light toward the hallway and looks again. It seems to be empty. No moving shapes. No sign of anything. No sign of Kihyun. 

“It’s not like a ghost could kidnap him. If he’s not somewhere the cameras can see, then he has to be outside, right? Do you have cameras outside?”

“No. There were no reports of activity out there.”

“Maybe Kihyun saw something scary and booked it out the first window he saw,” Minhyuk suggests. He lights a match and holds it up to one of the candles. He waits for it to catch fire before he moves to light the other one. When it lights, he blows out the candle and lets out a shaky breath. 

“Stand up?”

Hyungwon scowls as he pushes himself up to his feet. Minhyuk takes a deep breath before moves the set up to be in front of Hyungwon. He’s muttering under his breath again as he dips his brush into the red ink. It takes a very conscious effort on Hyungwon’s part to keep his mind positive. To keep it from getting yanked down somewhere dark. He feels like his feet are sinking into the ground as Minhyuk finally starts writing on the paper. 

Hyungwon watches as the intricate characters appear under Minhyuk’s hand. He knows that Kihyun explained this to him before, that the people who make  _ bujeok _ supposedly go into a trance as they draw. Minhyuk’s hand moves so fast, but his voice stays steady and slower. When Hyungwon looks, his eyes are closed. 

Hyungwon takes a deep breath and tries to find comfort in it, and Minhyuk keeps going, making the red ink into more and more of an elaborate design. He can smell the smoke from the candles, and he feels like it should make him calmer, but Hyungwon isn’t calm. 

“What is this supposed to do?” he asks. 

“It’s for protection,” Minhyuk answers. He leans back and takes a deep breath before picking up the paper and holding it up to Hyungwon. “I’m done.”

Hyungwon carefully takes it, staring at the paper. 

Now is not the time to think about how the tiny characters have come together to make a heart.

There’s a god-awful sobbing sound that comes from the hall, and Hyungwon shuts his eyes. It doesn’t sound like Kihyun, but he doesn’t know if that makes him feel better or worse about this situation. He sees Minhyuk’s hands shaking as he draws up another one for himself. He rubs his hands over his face before he grabs Minhyuk’s wrists as soon as he pulls his brush away. 

“What the hell is that?” Hyungwon whispers out. 

Minhyuk blinks up at him. “You...you hear it?” 

“How could I not? It’s so loud.”

Minhyuk huffs out a breath before pulling away from him, picking up his things, and slinging them over one shoulder while still holding onto his red-tipped brush. “Come on, we’re going.”

Hyungwon turns toward the door before he grabs onto Minhyuk’s hand again, needing to feel something real. The noise is still there but quieter. Like a distant hiccup instead of a wailing. He lets Minhyuk pull him quickly out the door and down the two halls to the front door.

The hiccuping noise stops, and the house turns dreadfully still as Minhyuk drags the red ink down the yellow paper still stuck on the door before pulling it. He unlocks the door. 

Or tries to. 

The knob turns, but the door doesn't move an inch. 

The pit in Hyungwon’s gut opens up and starts consuming him. He grips at the  _ bujeok _ that Minhyuk gave him and holds it against his chest. He thinks about Kihyun disappearing. About him and Minhyuk disappearing, too. About how he didn’t know if Changkyun heard them tell them to stay inside the van. He rams his shoulder into the door desperately, trying to lodge it open. It only causes pain to shoot through him. 

“No. No no no no no, come on,” Hyungwon says as he starts slamming his body against the door with all the force he can. 

“Hyungwon.” Hyungwon lets out a yell as he slams against the door again. “Hyungwon!”

“What?!”

Minhyuk is shaking his head at him, already sinking back down to the ground. “We’re going to have to stay until dawn.”

His chest aches, and he can’t breathe. He walks over to the closest window and rips the cardboard away from it. There isn’t even a moon out to light up the darkness, and the trees make it hard to even see the trees. Hyungwon grips at the dusty windowsill and feels his whole body heave. 

“Hyungwon, it’s talking.”

“Is it?” Hyungwon asks, turning to look at him, ready to pick a fight, but his words get caught in his throat when he sees Minhyuk. His hands are trembling as they squeeze at his beads, his eyes blinking rapidly like he’s having a waking dream. Hyungwon takes a tentative step towards him. “Minhyuk?”

“H-hide and seek,” Minhyuk whispers out. He shuts his eyes hard. “It’s playing hide and seek.”

Hyungwon looks up at the little green light from one of the cameras before looking back down at Minhyuk.

“Isn’t that. Not what we should do?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know, Hyungwon, none of them have ever asked me to play anything before.”

The house groans again, and they both flinch. Hyungwon grabs Minhyuk’s hand again. “We’re not splitting up again, no matter what, okay?” Hyungwon says. 

Minhyuk nods and squeezes his hand. “Okay.”

They hear the doors slam again, and Hyungwon sighs. “Getting kinda used to that now,” he mumbles. 

“It still wants us to go to the kitchen,” Minhyuk says. “It keeps closing all the other doors.”

“Should we listen to it?”

Minhyuk swallows, and it’s loud, an audible gulp before he squeezes his hand again. “Maybe.”

Hyungwon tries to steel himself and nods, once, twice, before he takes a deep breath. 

“Let’s go back then.” 

They walk back down the halls, only the light of Hyungwon’s flashlight there to guide them. The kitchen door is wide open for them, waiting. Hyungwon keeps his eyes moving around the room as they walk in, finding it empty again. 

“So hide and seek? Are we hiding or seeking?” Hyungwon asks. 

“I-”

A screech pierces the night. Loud enough to make them drop to their knees, covering their ears. When it stops, Hyungwon is panting again, feeling like his whole body has been run over by goosebumps. He scrambles to grab for Minhyuk again before he feels cold wrap around his ankle. He looks back, and then he’s yanked away, slammed against the wall by something that isn’t there. Air leaves Hyungwon. Minhyuk is still curled up on the ground and still covering his ears, and then the flashlight goes out. 

Hyungwon screams. He has never screamed on an investigation before, never has really screamed in his entire life, but it’s terrifying. In the dark, there are things moving, and it feels loud around him even if there should be nothing making noise. 

When the flashlight comes back on, it’s silent, and Minhyuk is on his knees, staring blankly at the wall. His talisman is on the floor between them instead of on him. There is no emotion on his face at all, no recognition. An empty vessel kneeling on a dusty floor. 

“M-Minhyuk?” Minhyuk’s head turns to him, and Hyungwon’s heart freezes in his chest. “N-no. Minhyuk, talk to me.”

“Come and find me,” Minhyuk says, but it isn’t Minhyuk’s voice. His mouth opens, and it’s like a radio transmission from something else comes out. Hyungwon whimpers as he tries to get himself together. 

“F-find you?”

“They hid me. Come and find me.”

Hyungwon closes his hands into tight little fists. “You hid my friend.”

Minhyuk’s head tilts, and a smile crawls its way onto his face. Big and unnatural instead of cute like it was earlier. “Find me. Find your friend.”

Rage boils up in him again, and he surges forward to grab Minhyuk’s talisman before grabbing Minhyuk’s shirt with the other hand. “Just tell me what to do!”

Minhyuk laughs, laughs right in Hyungwon’s face, and his eyes are open so wide they have to ache a bit. “Outside and inside, outside and inside, outside and inside,” he says.

Hyungwon frowns, and then he presses the yellow paper against Minhyuk’s chest. 

The flashlight gives out again, and Minhyuk is the one that screams this time. Hyungwon lets go of him and scrambles back before the light comes back on again. Minhyuk is on his hands and knees, panting and sputtering, but the paper is clutched between one of his fists.

Hyungwon takes a deep breath. “Minhyuk?”

Minhyuk looks up at him, and Hyungwon instantly knows it’s him again. 

“Oh God, it was  _ inside me _ ,” he chokes out, and he looks so small and horrified. Hyungwon looks down at his hands, and they’re still shaking. 

“It said we need to find it. That if we find it, we can find Kihyun,” Hyungwon informs him. 

Minhyuk presses his palms to his eyes. “I was  _ possessed _ . I was fucking possessed.”

“Hey, hey. Its okay. You couldn’t help it. It made you drop it,” Hyungwon says. He pulls Minhyuk’s hands away from his face and holds them because he doesn’t know what else to do. 

Minhyuk sniffs and nods. “Find it. We need to find it. Did it tell you where to look?”

Hyungwon shakes his head. “It just said outside and inside over and over again.”

Minhyuk scoffs. “It won’t let us go outside.”

Hyungwon freezes. “No. Not through the front door. But...there’s a backdoor. Although, we thought it was sealed.”

“Where?” Minhyuk says, instantly perking up.

Hyungwon shines his flashlight at one of the kitchen windows. There's an outline around it where someone put wallpaper over what used to be a door. “Do you think we can use that to get out of here?”

“We can definitely try,” Minhyuk responds. He folds up his yellow paper and puts it into his front pocket. “You have a knife?”

Hyungwon rummages through his bag before pulling out his small Swisss army knife. He stands up and walks over as he unfolds the small blade. He quickly slices through the thin wallpaper where the outline is visible. When he finishes, Minhyuk is standing next to him. 

“If this works, what’s the plan?” Minhyuk asks. 

“Try to figure out the clue, I guess. Outside and inside.”

“How are you going to try to open it?”

The kitchen door slams closed, and Hyungwon sighs out in frustration before he brings his knee up, then steps hard through the door, pushing all his body weight into the kick. The door gives a bit. Minhyuk grins before he shoves it as hard as he can. This time the cool that rushes over them is that of the night air. 

“Oh, thank God,” Minhyuk says as he hops out of the house. Hyungwon eagerly follows after him, instantly feeling a bit lighter when he steps out of the house. They only get a few seconds of relief before the backdoor slams back shut behind them, making them both jump. 

Hyungwon grits his teeth and shines the flashlight around the small backyard. “Outside and inside, huh.”

“Would it want us to go back inside the house?” Minhyuk muses as he looks around. 

“That would make no sense,” Hyungwon replies. He glances over at Minhyuk. “Maybe you could ask it?”

“I’m not going to talk to that thing again,” Minhyuk answers. 

Hyungwon nods. “Yeah, that’s valid.”

Inside the house, they can hear doors opening and slamming in protest. Hyungwon walks forward a bit, trailing the light against the back of the house. “What if you don’t and it takes over you again? What am I supposed to do?”

Minhyuk follows after him, his hand clutching at the back of Hyungwon’s jacket. “I don’t know. I don’t think that’ll happen because I’m not going to drop it again. What is that?”

Hyungwon looks over at him to see Minhyuk pointing down. He follows the point down to cellar doors. He grins before shoving his own talisman into his pocket. 

“Outside and inside,” he says. He walks over and easily pulls the doors open to reveal a few stairs leading to darkness. 

“Oh, hell no,” Minhyuk mutters under his breath. 

“Kihyun?” Hyungwon calls. 

Silence. Nothing. Just darkness. Minhyuk sighs. 

“You want us to go down there?”

“It makes sense, doesn’t it?”

Minhyuk tugs a bit harder on the back of his jacket. “Fuck it, then,” he says. 

Hyungwon could almost laugh. He carefully steps down into the cellar, feeling Minhyuk following behind him. Once he reaches the bottom, he finally takes a look around. 

Kihyun is unconscious, laying face-down on the ground. Hyungwon runs forward, kneeling on the ground and pulling Kihyun up into his arms. “Oh my God, Ki.” 

Minhyuk walks over and stands next to him. “Great. We got him, let’s get the hell out of here.”

Hyungwon nods as he gathers Kihyun up in his arms. He regrets not working out more as he thinks about having to actually pick him up when the cellar doors close. 

This time both Minhyuk and Hyungwon let out a scream. Minhyuk runs back to the stairs and tries to push open the doors. 

“Shit, shit, shit, what are we going to do?” Hyungwon asks. He's still holding Kihyun in his arms, afraid of letting him go. 

“I don't know! We found Kihyun. We won hide and seek!” Minhyuk yells out, as if he's telling the house around them.

Hyungwon stops. “No.”

“No?” Minhyuk asks as he whirls around.

“It said to come find it. That our friend might be there too. We found Kihyun, but we didn't find it,” Hyungwon says.

Minhyuk sighs and drops down onto the steps leading down into the cellar. “I just want to leave,” he whispers out.

“I know. So do I,” Hyungwon says. He looks around the room. “At least it isn't big? We can't get separated down here.”

Minhyuk doesn't respond. He just runs his fingers through his hair, pulling on it a bit as he stares at the ground. He kicks his feet against the ground and frowns. “Do you know much about architecture?”

“Excuse me?”

“Aren’t most cellars lined in concrete?” Minhyuk asks, tapping his foot against the wooden floor. Hyungwon looks down and realizes the whole floor is lined in wooden planks that don’t seem to fit at all in the rest of the room. When he looks back up at Minhyuk, he’s walking toward the back of the room.

“What are you doing?” Hyungwon asks. 

“This floor wasn’t always here,” Minhyuk replies. He moves around the tools that were left down there before picking up an axe and a crowbar. He looks up at Hyungwon. “Move.”

Hyungwon scoots back as Minhyuk walks over, dropping down at his knees. “Minhyuk?”

“Come and find me,” Minhyuk grumbles out before he sticks the crowbar into the space between two planks. He pushes on the crowbar until one of them pops up out of place. 

The house groans above them again, and Minhyuk grits his teeth as he pulls the entire plank up out the ground. Hyungwon sighs as he lays Kihyun back down on the ground and crawls over to help him. 

“What are we looking for?” Hyungwon asks.

Minhyuk frowns down at the dirt packed beneath the wood. “Probably something that’s keeping whatever it is here.”

Hyungwon takes the crowbar and pulls up the next plank of wood. “Any direction at all?”

“I think it put Kihyun on here like an X on a map,” Minhyuk says. He stops for a second and looks around. “It’s getting louder.”

Hyungwon sighs as he grips onto the crowbar. “Louder?”

Then Hyungwon can hear it. The wind sound from earlier. Like there’s a tornado happening right above their heads. He and Minhyuk lock eyes again before Minhyuk scoops desperately at the dirt with his hand, clawing out handfuls of soil. Hyungwon follows his lead, his hands getting coated in dust and grime, the wind picking up speed. 

Everything felt urgent. Something breathing down their necks and pressing down on their lungs as they kept clawing at the ground. The only thing Hyungwon could focus on was the little murmur coming from Minhyuk’s lips, tiny little prayers barely pricking past the sound of wind around them. 

“What is this?” Hyungwon asks. He brushes some dirt away to show some fabric there. Minhyuk shifts his efforts over to help Hyungwon uncover more and more of the fabric. 

The sound is deafening, and Hyungwon feels like someone is trying to shove him down, a knee pressed down against his back. He groans and looks up at Minhyuk to see him gritting his teeth like he’s using all his strength. 

“I’m trying, I’m trying,” Minhyuk yells out into the room. He keeps clawing at the dirt until he could yank the bundle up out of the hole they’ve made. The wind stops all at once, and Hyungwon turns to see the cellar doors open again. He sighs out and grabs his flashlight before crawling over to Kihyun. Kihyun groans, his eyes opening a bit, his camera still strapped to his hand. 

“W-what happened?” Kihyun asks. 

“Oh, thank God, we need to get out of here,” Hyungwon says, helping Kihyun up to his feet. “Minhyuk, come on.”

Hyungwon turns around to see Minhyuk staring down at the fabric he unwrapped, bones sitting on top of it. Something heaves up inside Hyungwon as he takes it in. The bones were small, but he wouldn’t have noticed if it wasn’t for how small the skull was. 

“Oh, God, what did you do?” Kihyun whispers out. 

“The kid that was kidnapped...Hyungwon...it was the kid,” Minhyuk says softly. 

Hyungwon waits for something in the house to signal it. A groan. A wind. A feeling. But there’s nothing. Just silence. Minhyuk sniffs as he carefully covers the bones up again with the fabric before nodding a bit. 

“We’ll get you out of here. Don’t worry, we found you. We found you,” Minhyuk whispers.

Everything feels calm as they emerge from the cellar. There are cicadas singing when Hyungwon was sure he hadn't noticed that before. When they walk back around the house, the back door is open. Kihyun opens up his camera and starts recording silently. Hyungwon’s walkie talkies crackles back to life. 

“HYUNGWON!”

“Shit,” Hyungwon whispers as he pulls it up and presses the button. “We’re here. We got Ki. We’re going back to the van. You should call the police.”

“Do you really think I didn't already call the police?” Changkyun says back, but his voice is tight even through the walkie-talkie. 

All the doors in the house have been left open. Minhyuk walks up to Hyungwon and grabs his wrist again as he looks around. 

“It’s empty now,” he explains.

“I can tell,” Hyungwon says back. They walk out of the front door and down the hill back to the van where Changkyun pounces on them, holding them tight to him.

“I was so scared, guys. You couldn't hear me anymore, but I could see it all happening, and I didn't...I didn't know what to think,” Changkyun whispers. 

Kihyun pulls Changkyun away from Hyungwon and squeezes him tight. Hyungwon turns away to find Minhyuk sitting on the curb, rubbing his eyes. 

There's a blanket they keep in the back of the van for colder nights, and that's all Hyungwon can think about. He goes to grab it, carefully side-stepping Kihyun and Changkyun to climb into the back to grab it. 

Minhyuk looks up when Hyungwon wraps the blanket around him, kneeling in front of him to make sure it won't slip off. They don't speak to each other. Hyungwon just tries to give him a little pressed-lip smile, and Minhyuk huffs out a breath before he pulls the blanket closer around himself. Hyungwon sits down on the curb next to him and stares at the streetlight across the street. It's only a few moments before Minhyuk leans against him, his head coming down on Hyungwon’s shoulder. 

“Changkyun called the police?” Minhyuk asks. 

“He did.”

“Good.”

“I’m sorry you had to deal with all of this because of our dumb show,” Hyungwon says. He pulls at the bottom of his jacket and looks down at the asphalt beneath their feet. This was probably the most stressful night of his life, and he didn't even know what time it was. How many hours they had lost in there. 

“It's okay. I agreed to this knowing how I felt about the house. It's not your fault.”

Hyungwon clears his throat to say something when the police car pulls up. Two officers come out, and Hyungwon is grateful it's the ones they've already talked to about doing this. He stands up and walks over and shakes their hands. 

“Nice to see you again,” he says. 

“When your guy called, he sounded a bit panicked,” Officer Son says. 

Hyungwon nods. “Our walkies went out, and one of our members was temporarily missing, but we found him.”

“Was it actually haunted?” Officer Lee asks as he glances up at the house. 

Hyungwon can't help but smile a bit. “Yeah. But probably not anymore.”

Officer Son raises a brow at him. “So everything is good now?”

“Well, actually, we found bones in the cellar. So I figure this investigation is out of our hands now,” Hyungwon says.

“Bones?” 

“Yeah. In the cellar. We didn't touch them, but we touched the fabric that was wrapped around them.”

The officers nod at each other before officer Son goes to call the station. Officer Lee smiles at Hyungwon kindly. “We just need to take a statement from all of you.”

After more police cars have shown up, and they’ve been escorted to the station to give official statements, Hyungwon and Minhyuk find themselves sitting next to each other on a bench outside the police station, watching as the sky starts to get lighter as sunrise approaches. 

Minhyuk clears his throat. “I'm guessing this wasn't what you were expecting when you said you were excited for the night.”

Hyungwon snorts, his upper body bucking forward a bit as he tries to hold in a laugh. “Definitely not. In fact, we try really hard not to end up at the police station.”

Minhyuk laughs again as he rubs at his eyes. “I'm exhausted. I can't believe their coffee machine is broken.”

Hyungwon licks his lips. “We could go get coffee?” He looks over at Minhyuk, and Minhyuk is smiling a bit to himself.

“Well, we are officially free to go.”

“We are.”

“There's actually a coffee place nearby that's open. We could walk.”

“Sounds good.”

“You know most of my first dates happen when the sun's setting, not when it's rising,” Minhyuk says carefully. 

Hyungwon blinks at the ground before looking up at Minhyuk. “You...after all that? Date?”

Minhyuk laughs as he stands up and pulls on Hyungwon’s hand. “You’re like the first guy I’ve met that I'm interested in that’s also not running for the hills when the whole psychic thing isn't a hoax. Might as well go on one date.”

Hyungwon grins as he follows after Minhyuk. “I mean, we could use you on the team. It'd be cool to know what kind of night we’re in for before we start.”

“After all of that, you still want to do this?”

“Are you kidding? I want to do it even more now. Except, don’t do that first thing you did from now on, please.”

Minhyuk laughs before smacking lightly at his arms. They’re so tired that everything is funny, so they both collapse into a fit of giggles as they walk. 

“Maybe. How long are you in town for?” Minhyuk asks. 

“Two more days.”

Minhyuk nods before stopping in front of the coffee place. “None of that, then. Also hopefully nothing that crazy ever again.”

The smell of coffee smacks Hyungwon in the face as they walk in. It's probably the only cafe around here, and the woman behind the counter is strangely smiley for how early it is, but Hyungwon feels better because of it. They order their iced Americanos and huddle into a round table in the corner.

“You'll think about coming with us?” Hyungwon asks after they get their drinks. 

Minhyuk drinks slow. His lips, Hyungwon realizes, are drier and paler than they had been when they first met. Probably from chewing on them and muttering all night. Minhyuk tilts his head.

“Like me that much?” He jokes. 

Hyungwon looks down. “You’re probably the most authentic psychic we've had on the show. And you helped a lot. We make decent money. People love this stuff,” he explains. 

Minhyuk shakes his cup a bit and takes another sip. “I'll think about it.”

Hyungwon smiles. “I hope you do. Especially since I'm definitely going to be third-wheeling now.”

“That sounds like a personal problem.”

Hyungwon laughs again, and Minhyuk is pretty when he laughs his loud uncute laugh. He reaches out and flicks lightly at the fingers wrapped around his cup.

Minhyuk beams a bit before he pulls back. “I'll go to your next one. Get that, though.”

“Get what?”

Hyungwon’s phone rings, and he can't help but smile at the smug grin on Minhyuk's face. He picks up and listens to Kihyun scold him for leaving without telling them before asking for coffee. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Pls feel free to leave comments or kudos if you enjoyed!


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